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The Shargh Daily tweeted an image of the plane’s twisted tailfin, standing upright in the middle of a motorway. Another showed an enormous plume of black smoke billowing over the crash site, as startled drivers stood by their cars staring at the scene.

Iranian Revolutionary Guards inspect the site of a passenger plane crash near the capital Tehran, Iran (AP)

Iran's deputy transport minister, Ahmad Majidi, said the Antonov An-140 turboprop plane had 40 passengers, including six children, and eight crew on board, and he put the death toll at 38.

Officials initially said all on board had been killed, but local news agencies later reported that 37 bodies were sent to the morgue and nine people were hospitalised, two of them with critical injuries.

Mehrabad airport is near central Tehran and it is the country's busiest domestic hub.

Iranian security and rescue personnel inspect the site of a passenger plane crash near the capital Tehran, Iran (AP)

Most international passenger flights take off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport, which is located further west of the capital.

Alireza Jahangirian, the head of Iran's civil aviation authority, said: "The plane crashed in trees. There were no casualties on the ground."